Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Warp wrote:
> >   That seems to be a problem with Windows: It simply doesn't invite you
> > to do things by scripting.
>
> I guess that's because it's "designed for novicies".

No, perhaps that's because scripting like as if you were writing a Java app --
as in the previous example, complete with "object factories" and useless
declarations -- just sucks?

> The DOS scripts I usually write work regardless. (*.bat, or *.cmd for NT
> or later.) As I understand it, to run exotic languages like VBScript or
> JavaScript, you need the Windows Script Host (WSH). This is an optional
> extra for NT 4.0, but comes with XP (and, presumably, later). I did have
> a look at using JavaScript in this capacity, but I couldn't find any
> documentation anywhere.

What I find most amusing about Microsoft's hype machine about several languages
implementations available for use with their frameworks is that the
programs/scripts so produced all look exactly alike, except for faint syntatic
differences.  That's because language truly doesn't matter when all you do is
call predefined stuff.  Languages only matter when most of the code is spent
implementing new stuff rather than calling from libs.

> Sometimes I fantasise about writing my own file manager. It's right up
> there next to my various other unfinished projects. :-/

You could take a look at the Zipper Filesystem, a fully transactional and purely
functional filesystem implemented in Haskell with GHC:

http://okmij.org/ftp/Computation/Continuations.html#zipper-fs

Oleg is a kind of modern day compsci genious, something rare among the IT
workers and dictators of today.  His head seems to operate on a level far above
ours, always amazing us with ingenious takes on innovative ways to do things.
Shame he never went into designing a programming language of his own, instead
relying on C++, Scheme and Haskell a vehicles for his imagination.

He also gave recently an interesting lecture at Haskell Cafe against Lazy IO:

http://groups.google.com/group/fa.haskell/browse_thread/thread/50cc28a0ae61c38e/d5917350262c3ebd

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